Traveling is always a good way to observe yourself and test how strong your national identity is – it’s not something I typically think of until I am in a conversation with someone from another country. Unless you do not identify with your home country at all, it can be painful to remember some of the shameful things your country has done. In my case, I always feel uncomfortable having to explain how slavery shaped American life. We learned about slavery in our history classes growing up but it was difficult to imagine that we, our own country, were guilty of such a terrible thing. Instead, it was framed in a way that celebrated the formal abolition of slavery. However, this grim fact cannot be ignored and its effects on American society have never fully gone away. Now, when I am asked about slavery and racism in America, I find it difficult to put into words how the two are correlated and how it appears in today’s society. I think it is important to acknowledge the atrocities of pre-abolition American and how these thoughts have transformed into underlying (and sometimes explicit) racism within American society. Regardless of one’s stance of the presence/severity of racism in America, it’s undeniable that the effects of America’s history with slavery have not carried over into modern life. When explaining the issue to an outsider, I think that being as transparent as possible, outlining the facts and being sincere about your discomfort and disagreement with the issue shows that you are not your country and do not agree with everything choice your country’s leaders make.